Cristo Redentor and the Brazilian Beach

We finally and safely arrived at our hostel for a couple days in Rio de Janeiro - Chill on the Beach Hostel, but it was an adventure of sorts getting here. Landed around midnight the night before and took a taxi to a hotel in the Gamboa - Centro neighborhood. Definitely drove through a rough part of town... even our taxi driver in his broke English mentioned that it was "very dangerous for you." Holly kept her Swiss army knife at the ready in the backseat of the cab, just in case. Luckily, our hotel had a security guard and we arrived without incident, so we were set for the night. Amazing breakfast and then did our own walking tour of Rio. It reminded me of Boston in the sense that there were these beautiful old churches and buildings juxtaposed with the business district. We ended the afternoon in the Santa Teresa neighborhood - Bohemian, local artists, vegan food, adorable.

Cristo Redentor

The next morning, we got ourselves moving by noon-time (still on Peru time, which is 2 hours earlier!). Walked down Copacabana Beach observing remnants from the Olympics and bought tickets to take a bus up to Corcovado - Cristo Redentor. The man selling the tickets warned us that the entire mountain was covered in fog, no Cristo to see, no views, so maybe try tomorrow. But we were leaving tomorrow! Decided to risk it. We took the van up, and then another van, and yup - completely 100% surrounded by thick fog. We stayed up there for half an hour or so and things started to clear, and it was actually, I think, even more beautiful. We got clear glimpses of the city through holes in the clouds. The fog eventually lifted enough that we saw JC himself clearly.

So excited that we could finally see him!! 

Peaking through the clouds at Rio

Alley in Historic Buzios, leading to the harbor

Two days in the big city was plenty! We headed off to start the Beach part of the trip. Our first stop was Buzios (3 hours north of Rio), which turned out to be the only town where we got any actual real beach time. Our first day in Buzios was beautiful, we ate delicious vegetables and coconut desserts. The Buzios peninsula has 17 beaches so we were able to role around in sunscreen and spend mid-morning through mid-afternoon lounging on Geriba Beach. It was nice to have a home base for 3 whole nights where we could unpack a bit and cook some of our own meals. The most exhausting thing about this trip so far is the seemingly unending packing and re-packing of all my belongings. Our second day in Buzios was cloudy, so we wandered around Centro/Historico neighborhood, walked along the pier, had a cafesito and explored the Rua de Pedras (Stone Street). Adorable! Shops and cafes along a little cobblestone street.

Geriba Beach on the Buzios peninsula

Paraty

Paraty rained. Colonial town about 4 hours south of Rio. Miserable, cold, wet evening in Paraty. I refused to admit the weather fail and continued to eat acai bowls wearing my coat, rain coat, and scarf to ward off the cold wetness. We also happened to get stuck in a political parade for candidate #14. I'm pretty sure the entire town of Paraty was in this parade. I've never seen so much excitement about politics. Maybe our system would work a little better if people could get excited about any of the issues/candidates on this scale. It reminded me of Germans and the World Cup.

Enjoying a Caipirinha!

The forecast for the next 6 days is rain. Awesome beach vacation! Caipirinha helped turn my spirits around and the next morning - low and behold - there was some sun! Went for a jog and saw Paraty in the beautiful sunlight. I walked up to a fort over the city, sat on the beach and made friends with a street dog.

It was cold and rainy on this beautiful island! 

Then we headed to Sao Sebastiao to grab a ferry to Ilhabela - an island off the coast. We forgot to determine where we were going to stay on Ilhabela, but thought we could grab wifi somewhere and get an address once we arrived. Unfortunately, we were not aware that it was an election day, hence (as in most countries), a national holiday, hence EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. We found one grocery store that was open (no wifi) so we are literally just walking around this island without a clue of what direction we are going or need to be going to find a place to sleep. Also 15kg backpacks on back, 5kg packs on front. A kind bicyclist stopped and said something to us in Portugese, so we stared at him blankly, and then he says in perfect English, "Do you need help?" He pointed us in the right direction and we finally found a 24 hour convenience store. We each bought a chocolate milk to recharge after our 2k trek and discovered we were only around the corner from the hostel we wanted! The entire time on Ihlabela was cloudy. We went for what was supposed to be a 2 hour hike that accidentally turned into a 6 hour hike through the national park on the island. We cooked a great dinner and crossed our fingers for sun, but no such luck, so off we went, beach vacation FAIL.

Catedral Se

Inside

Of course, we arrived in Sao Paulo (inland, no beaches) to sun. We did a free walking tour of the city, the highlight for me was the Catedral la Se. It was not gaudy with gold or mosaics or stain glass windows, but the size of the pillars and the alter was overwhelming. The size literally took my breath away! and I've seen a good number of giant cathedrals in my day. Another fun fact is that there are so many keys in the organ that it cant be played because it will possibly/probably shatter the windows. I felt completely dwarfed by the sheer size of it. Other than the cathedral, I spent most of the tour talking with a French man who was visiting his sister and 5 day old nephew and to a German from Stuttgart.

 I would have liked to see the Consolcao Cemetery, but they closed at 1pm! It looked amazing through the fence... We wandered through Batman's Alley, which is a street filled with graffiti art, but not just graffiti. Professional graffiti. I did not anticipate being so impressed, but wow. We ended up going to dinner with the German from Stuttgart and his friend, friend's wife, and their 10-month old. Kid and wife went home and the four of us went to a sky bar, overlooking the Sao Paulo skyline. Amazing view, great company, good conversation. I think meeting people is one of my favorite things about traveling.

Batman's Alley graffiti

Our latest night yet! and last night in Brazil. Off on a high note. <5 hours of sleep later, we headed off to the airport for a 13 hour travel day back to Quito, Ecuador.

It´s a Trap!!: Lago Titicaca (and Arequipa)

We split our last week in Peru between two cities - Puno (on the banks of Lake Titicaca) and Arequipa.

The Tourist Trap:

Arriving in Puno, we grabbed an early dinner and slept for about 10 hours (trek recovery, continued). Well, Kaitlyn and I slept. Holly came down with a horrible cold/flu (aka Peruvian Montezuma´s Revenge) and has been unable to do anything, including sleep. She checked into a fancy 4 star hotel (for a whole 40$, splurge!) to just hole up in bed,  but this also means that she successfully evaded the tourist trap! Kaitlyn and I were trying to decide how long to wait until we take her to the doctor. Not sure what is more scary - Holly being sick (insert catastrophic thinking), or trying to get around a health care system in a foreign country/language.

Grenadilla!

While Kaitlyn was still sleeping. I wandered Puno, taking in some of the earlier morning sights, dropped off my trek laundry (necessity), and wrote some postcards over a breakfast of Andean corn pancakes, avocado and tomato, and black coffee. While I am not trying all the fun foods in Peru due to the vegetarian identity, I am loving the fruit juices (jugo de mango y jugo de pina are my favorites). Dishes that I have not tried: alpaca and/or llama steak, frog juice (frog parts, blended with water and some spices?), or cuy (guinea pig). There are many new interesting fruits, and all the fruit is so fresh. We took it easy all day, exploring Puno, sitting at the harbor, churros and jugos . 

Kaitlyn on the boat to Uros

And then we booked a trip to the floating islands (Islas Uros). This experience was ridiculous in every single tourist trap way possible. Luckily it was only about $7.50. We were picked up from our hotel and got on a boat at the harbor. The guide was supposed to be bilingual Spanish/English. There was a group of 5 of us and I was the only one who was not pretty fluent in Spanish. Granted, I understand a fair amount of Spanish, but it takes so much concentration, I get tired after about 15 minutes. The guide would randomly translate single words into English, "por que, because, por que" and then continue on in Spanish, so I stopped paying attention. Twenty minute boat ride out to the islands and then the guide essentially dropped us off on one of the islands and disappeared. Three families lived on the island and they explained how they built the islands (again, speaking native tongue, which was translated into Spanish), invited us into their one room homes, asked us questions about ourselves and shared about them (name, age, marital status, occupation), invited us to try on their clothes (? this is where I start to get pretty uncomfortable), and then because they knew our names, continually asked us to buy things from them.

demonstration of how islands are built

It was interesting to hear about how the islands are built; other than this, I just wanted out. But my general sense of Puno is that it is more metropolitan and less tourist-y than the other places weve been. Theres much less harrassment in the streets to buy things or eat at this restaurant, people essentially stare at the gringo skin or just ignore. I prefer this treatment. Puno seems much more genuinely Peru, which is overall appealing to me. 

Boats used in Uros Islands

I have heard that going to Copacabana and La Paz, Bolivia across the lake is really awesome, but we did not have the time nor the budget (US citizens need a visa - $130 - to visit Bolivia) to do this. So maybe next time! I really did enjoy Puno and the Lake was beautiful, but the Uros Islands were not for me. 

Arequipa:
We have been traveling around South America, planning as we go. We find a place to sleep, complete our planned activities, and begin to plan our next step. This has worked out really well for the most part. Unfortunately, because of this, we missed out on the main reason people travel to Arequipa - Colcha Canyon. We have been told that going to Arequipa and not seeing Colcha Canyon, is essentially going to Cuzco and not seeing Machu Picchu. We assumed that Colcha Canyon would be a day trip from Arequipa. This is correct if you wanted to be picked up at 2am. This was either not appealing or possible, depending on which of the three of us you ask. So we lounged around Arequipa, drinking jugos and relaxing, which was actually wonderful.

Holly playing the tourist in Arequipa

Enjoying jugos on a rooftop balcony

Main Square of Arequipa

Our last night in the hostel, Holly was having some worried dreams about traveling to Brazil the next day. She woke up the entire room with "Oh  (profanity!!!), GUYS!! someone stole my passport!!!!" I calmly sat up and said, "Holly, are you actually awake?" Unfortunately, everyone else in the room did not know her history of sleep talking. Most people checked their gear to make sure computers/phone, etc.  were still there. Her response: "oh nope, everything is fine, sorry"



And on that note, Holly and I sadly left Kaitlyn in Peru, and jetted across the continent, with dreams of beach vacations dancing in our head.  

Salkantay trek and Machu Picchu

So I think I've finally solved the issue with the photos uploading. Trying to write and post from Holly's iPad (Thanks, Holl!!!) the last 2 weeks has been a little frustrating. Finally got myself to a real computer, so hopefully the photos are showing up now.

The night before our hike, we were all a little riled up anticipating a 3:45am wake up. There were a few disruptions overnight, including 2 people coming into our room around 2am, which we all thought was the tour guide coming in because we were not out waiting for him! Finally, alarms went off and we stumbled around trying to get ourselves together.

Day 1: our guide, Braulio, picked us up from our hostel in a van around 430. We drove about 3 hours, Kaitlyn and Holly slept most of the way (the smart move considering our wake up time and the task for the day: climb a mountain with little oxygen). I took in the views, which were amazing once the sun came up. We drove through tiny, sleepy towns, around mountains, looking down into valleys. I saw a village cemetery marked with wooden crosses and we almost knocked a cow who standing in the middle of the road down the mountain. Finally arrived at the base of the Salkantay Pass where we met the team that would be accompanying us in the daylight and had some breakfast. Cusco is around 10,000 feet in altitude and we started our morning at about 12,000 feet.

View of Salkantay from our breakfast spot

Our helpful horses, carried our gear the entire way!

The morning trek would take us through the Salkantay pass at 15,000 and then back down to 12,000 for our first campsite. Braulio outlined the day and told us about another group he had guided who had been the quickest. Of course the competitiveness came out and we were determined to beat those mythical Germans who had been, I'm sure, training in the Alps their entire lives.  I don´t know how to describe the feeling of walking so slowly and still sucking down air, anytime my body was in motion. The landscape up here was mountain highlands. We felt the temperature of glacial streams and Braulio told us about how Salkantay was one of the last mountains with snow year round, thanks global warming.

At 15,000 feet!!!

The downhill in the afternoon was tough. Lots of pebbles and gravel, which made the going slow. We saw almost no other people, except locals with horses in tow. We finally reached our campsite, where our tents were set up and dinner was on the way.

Kaitlyn and myself, sitting down after 15k up a mountain

I'm not super sure where Day 1 ends and day 2 begins. I got little sleep, listening to Holly also toss and turn, and the altitude sickness got much worse. Headache became a stabbing migraine, add chills/sweats and nausea, and there you got it, full blown altitude sickness! Wild. Luckily, we all had prescriptions for this, so first thing in the morning, I took some Diamox, and filled up my camelbak. Dehydration  makes altitude sickness worse, so I threw in some rehydration salts just to have my bases covered. The nausea was pretty awful, so no breakfast for me! Even the smell or sight of food made me want to vomit. Our chef came out to check on me and I was able to practice my baby Spanish with "mi cabeza es ok, pero mi estomgo es no bueno." He proceeded to make me some tea concoction with celery root in it and told me to drink it all up. It tasted nasty, but I did anyway! On the plus side, as everyone else sat in the dining tent eating delicious breakfast, I saw the sun rising over the mountain pass, probably one of the most beautiful memories of my trek. It was just me, some rogue chickens, our horses, and the sun cutting through the clouds to illuminate the snow capped peak (of course, my photo of this view is on my camera, and not Holly's phone, which is where I am getting all my photos, so I cant share it!).

Day 2: today is the longest day in terms of mileage, and all of it down hill. If we impressed Braulio yesterday, today we nicknamed ourselves los tres tortugas. Sometimes we are lentas tortugas, other times fuertas tortugas, but always tortugas. Today we descended from the mountain highlands to the jungle.

More mosquitoes, we discovered within the first half hour, and quickly showered ourselves in DEET, but also vegetation and flowers. We walked through farms with grenadilla (my new favorite fruit) and passion fruit trees, coffee farms and banana trees, most of the time hiking by a trail that feeds into the Amazon River. Braulio showed us different ferns and orchids, and everything was so different from day 1.  My appetite finally returned to normal by the evening so I could enjoy the 3 course meals prepared by Chef Jualberto and his assistant, Aber. Arriving at our campsite at a mere 7,000  feet, I did not know I could walk as far as we did! Every joint is exhausted and oh my feet, I thought they were going to fall off. Kaitlyn, claiming that's she is oh-so-delicate, kicked my butt, keeping up with Braulio and almost making the walk-with-walking sticks look almost sexy while Holly was reduced to the hysterical laugh/cry for no particular reason the last hour of her day. Hopefully everyone will be ready to go tomorrow - 6 more miles and all morning uphill.

Waterfall in the jungle

Day 3: last day of hiking!! I feel fantastic today - muscles mildly sore, but being at the lower altitude for most of the day makes a world of difference. Before we even left our campsite for the morning, Braulio got his friend, Fredy to show us around his farm. We ate bananas right from the tree - small ones that were a little orangey in the middle, harvested avocados, and picked coffee beans. Fredy walked us through the coffee process, and then we roasted (Kaitlyn gave a nice burn) our own beans and ground them for the freshest coffee I have ever tasted.

Harvesting coffee beans on Fredys farm!

Trekking downhill in the dust...

Uphill all morning, kicked butt (almost, caught those Germans!). We really are killer at the uphills. Once we got to the top of the mountain, we caught our first glimpse of Machu Picchu from afar - luckily, I had my binoculars!!! Story time with Braulio revealed that many archaeologists think there are even more ruins that haven't been discovered (maybe larger than Machu Picchu) because the jungle in Peru is so thick. The Incas built over 350 trails in their empire, to connect cities across Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile and trained "runners" to carry messages and some small goods in between cities. He also showed us some plants they used in the mummification process. Then 2 hours downhill, which is not the strong suite of the tortugas, lemme tell ya. Also, no rain (thank goodness), meant SO MUCH DUST! It was literally everywhere. We finally got to the city of Hidroelectrica after the afternoon of downhills and hopped a train to Aguas Calientes, named for the hot springs in the town. Our final amazing dinner with Jualberto and Aber before an early bedtime.



Day 4: another early rise - the latest we've been able to sleep in this whole time is 530 and today was not sleeping in. Holly had some more nights terrors along the lines of "[profanity, other profanities] Noooo, I can't go any more, is he serious?," apparently dreaming that Braulio wouldn't let us stop hiking! There were many other nights in which Holly had some interesting and vocal dreams, they may be referenced in future posts... Met Braulio in the hotel lobby at 5 and stood in line to make it up to Machu Picchu by 6 for the sunrise.

The site was extremely humbling. Braulio told us about the architecture, engineering, and culture of the empire - incredible. Terraced farms outside the city with impressive irrigation systems. Inside the city walls, we saw the last remaining sun temple of the Incas (all others destroyed by Spanish in search of gold), a compass (perfectly oriented to n, s, e, and w), a sun dial, homes, storage areas, bathrooms, compost rooms, and the Condor Temple. Scholars believe that Machu Picchu was a university of sorts where people came to train in their craft. Most of the remains that were found here were women (about 60%). What a bummer, after 3 days of seeing almost no one but our own little group, the thousands of tourists were kind of a shock, overwhelming, and unfortunately I think really took away from my visit. We meandered around this incredible city until lunch, then headed beck to Aguas Calientes for our train ride back to Cusco.

Lots of interesting insights from Braulio about Peruvian culture and society today. We all had some reservations about Peruvians waiting on us - setting up our tents, cooking for us, heating water so we could wash our hands. Likely comparable to the Shirpas that guide in the Himalayas. I'm not sure what my expectation of a guided trek to Machu Picchu was, but having local people do all the work for me while I just walked along this pass was definitely not it. However, Braulio explained that many highly educated Peruvians (lawyers, accountants) can't find jobs, so end up driving taxis, etc. This made me think about the tourist industry in a much more nuanced way. It cant be boiled down to exploitation of natives vs. job support for natives. As with everything in life, it's not as black and white as it seems.

Alpacas in Cuzco and Textiles in Pisac

wow, Cusco! We definitely needed more time in this amazing city! Holly and I again did a Free Walking Tour, but it was waaaaaay more boring than the one in Lima. We did see the main square (Plaza de Armas), San Francisco Plaza, San Pedro market, and hung out with some alpacas.

The difference between an alpaca and a llama: the eyes. Llamas always look like they are wearing dark eye liner. Also, they have strong backs so they're used to carry goods, whereas alpacas have weak backs and really good hair, so their wool is used to make cloth.

Selfie with an alpaca?

Holly and I grabbed dinner while Kaitlyn recharged at Mama Simona Hostel. As we were walking back, we noticed all these rainbow flags. My first thought was, "wow, gay friendly hostel, gay friendly grocery, this city is surprisingly progressive! Go Peru!" Turns out, nope, the rainbow flag is the native flag so if you hae a lot of Inca pride, you will probably be flying a rainbow flag outside your house, next to the flag of Peru.

We had an amazing lunch at the San Pedro market - arroz a la Cuba - rice, avocado, egg, plantain, and it cost 4 soles, which is about $1.30.






Some observations now that I've been in Peru for a whole couple of days.
1. Travelers are surprisingly older than the backpacker circuit in Europe for example. Most are in their late 20s or early 30s and a surprising number just quit their jobs and are traveling for months. I feel like I fit in surprisingly well just like I felt like I fit in backpacking around Europe when I was 20.

2. So many tourists! Also, we stick out so much. That gringo skin just won't hide! The brown hair helps, but literally the only people with blue eyes are the three of us, it seems like. It Is immediately obvious and we get called out on the streets regularly to buy things or eat at this restaurant, or do we want a massage? It's a little annoying, I wish I could blend in a bit better!

3. Cusco is so different than Lima!! The geography and landscape (I cannot breathe because the altitude! 10,000 feet!), the people. I have officially fallen in love with Peru. There is so much more to do in Cusco that we didn't even know about and don't have time for! More ruins, the Sacred Valley, salt baths. Could easily spend 10 more days here.

Cusco Catedral with our new friend, Karolin!

Pisac
This is a town about half an hour by bus outside of Cusco that is known for its market. So after breakfast our second morning, still struggling with the lack of oxygen, we walked across town and caught the local van/bus. Holly befriended "Pablo" who stated that he was from "the universe" (originally Slovakia?). Interesting character but gave us some tips on Pisac, where he lived by the river with his 8 dogs.

We all spent more money than initially intending. I bought a ring, and a belt from an older woman who tried to explain to me how she makes the yarn. I understood very little. But she also taught me how to tie it! I figured that since I've been wearing the same cloth belt since the 10th grade, I could afford to invest in another. Kaitlyn is obsessed with the textiles, which I have to admit are growing on me. I almost bought a flute for my dear husband, but it was too expensive. Also so much more fun to buy yourself presents!

I would have loved to see the Pisac market on a Saturday or even spent a night there,  but no time! Back to Cusco to meet with our guide for the trek. I had him say his name multiple times and still was not sure what it was until about day 3 of 4. After our orientation with him, I was feeling less confident - looks like it is going to be extremely difficult! So feeling nervous but also excited. At this point though, I'm starting to feel more confident with my baby Spanish. I can get myself around ok and am learning a ton!

I haven't felt unsafe in Peru at all, other than drinking bottled water all the time, and avoiding some neighborhoods in Lima, just as I would in ANY large city (Chicago, NYC). We will be picked up at 4:30am, here we goooooo

#thesabbatical

So it literally has been three years since I've left the country (embarrassing) or blogged and this summer and into the fall, I get to spend weeks and weeks traveling the globe!! There was the honeymoon to Nova Scotia in July, perhaps I'll update the blog with that story later.. and I am currently traveling around South America with my dear friend, Holly, from graduate school. We both chose unemployment after the insanity that was grad school and therefore have some time for seeing the world.

We landed in Lima, Peru on September 10 and met my old roommate from Louisville, KY - Kaitlyn. The three of us spent a couple days in Lima, which was an ok city, definitely not my favorite.

Coastline of Lima on a cloudy morning

La Catedral, Lima

Things I picked up about Lima/Peru on the Free Walking Tour:

1. "Cuy" (pronounced "kwee" ) is the national dish of Peru. Any guesses?? Guinea pig! There is even a painting of the Last Supper in a few of he larger churches in the country (including the San Francisco monastery in Lima) in which Jesus himself has a plate of cuy in the center of e table.

2. Pisco is the national drink of Peru, and it makes cocktails they call "Pisco sour." It is similar to wine in that it is made out of grapes, but it is 40% alcohol.

3. Ceviche is a popular dish all over South America, but it is made a little differently in every country, for example, in Ecuador, the fish is boiled briefly before adding the lemon or lime juice.

Ceviche in Barranco, Lima

4. Most Peruvians are of mixed heritage, from Native American (e.g., Incan), Spanish, and African ancestors.

5. There are a lot of earthquakes in Peru. The Incans had a special way of building that made their structures able to withstand earthquakes easily (the walls are wider at the base). Unfortunately, the Spanish thought they were so a much smarter and decided to just build normal walls, so of course most important buildings in Lima have been rebuilt 7-10 times only since the Spanish came in. More on the Incans later.

6. The Spaniards also brought Catholicism with them so there is an interesting blend of tradition surrounding holidays like All Saints Day. Families go to the graves of their loved ones and essentially have a raging party, pouring beer over the grave, etc. The two national saints of Peru are St. Rosa and St. Martin of the Poor.

7. There is a park full of homeless cats in Lima. At first it was bizarre, then hilarious, then sad! We didn't realize that everywhere else in Peru there would be street dogs too.

Cat Park

I realized I knew very very little about Peruvian history, politics, and culture so these facts were all pretty interesting! My favorite neighborhood of Lima was Barranco - hipster, easy, small town feel. But overall, Lima was a large (8.5 million plus 1.5 in the surrounding hills) and loud city and I was excited to get to Cusco!

Next time, Cusco and Pisac!!!!

Thanks for reading